Working Group on Biodiversity Observatory Automation

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The Thematic Services Working Groups

The LifeWatch ERIC Thematic Services, co-developed by the LifeWatch ERIC Common Facilities and National Distributed Centres, are a key component of the 2022-2026 Infrastructure Strategic Working Plan (SWP). They represent the main priority areas of e-Service construction in LifeWatch ERIC proposed by the National Distributed Centres.

Activities, developments and physical outcomes of the LifeWatch ERIC Thematic Services, as e-Services, Virtual Labs (vLabs) and more complex and complete Virtual Research Environments (VREs), are planned to be implemented by Thematic Service Working Groups participated by scientists from both the National Distributed Centres and the Common Facilities, with an overall coordination of the LifeWatch ERIC Service Centre.

Thematic Services Working Groups

remote

Biodiversity Observatory Automation

A brief overview

This session, hosted by the Biodiversity Observatory Automation Working Group at the Biodiversity and Ecosystem eScience Conference 2025, will explore cutting-edge solutions for effective biodiversity assessment amidst unprecedented environmental challenges. 

Addressing time-intensive fieldwork, complex data processing, and storage barriers, the session will highlight advances in automated data collection, AI integration, and eDNA analysis. 

Emphasizing FAIR data principles and digital twin creation, it seeks to optimize biodiversity monitoring, enabling actionable responses to the Triple Planetary Crisis.

Join us on our journey to deepen our comprehension of ecological systems and their reactions to the rapidly changing world around us. Stay informed about updates, resources, and opportunities for collaboration!

Join this Working Group

Key Objectives

  1. Mapping services to address the “Ecological responses to climate change” already available in LifeWatch ERIC and ensure their accessibility from the LifeWatch ERIC ‘market place’.
  2. Mapping needs and requirements to boost research activities within the membership of the Working Group, setting priorities for the enlarging the inventory and filling in the gaps.
  1. Developing a catalogue of commonly used models and/or particularly relevant to address key “Ecological responses to climate change”.
  2. Integrating the models into web-services and uploading their metadata on the LifeWatch ERIC ‘market place’.
  1. Organisation of the WG participation to the 2025 BEeS Conference on “Addressing the Triple Planetary Crisis” which will be held in Crete from 30 June to 3 July.
  2. Organisation of the WG Workshop ‘Ecological modelling and eco-informatics to address functional responses of biodiversity and ecosystems to climate change’ co-organised with the University of Salento.
  1. Mapping opportunities for project application of a WG consortium to Horizon Europe calls 2026-2027 and to other calls of national/international relevance.
Climate change

Photo by USGS on Unsplash

Coordinators

Alberto Basset

Alberto Basset

Antonello Provenzale

Antonello Provenzale

Timeline

Mapping user requirements
End of January 2025 - Catalogue of services already available in LifeWatch ERIC or research lines addressing ecological responses to climate change
Read more
Implementing services
End of January 2025 - Internal distribution of a questionnaire on the most used/relevant model resources in the WG member research activity
Read more
Organising WG workshops and conferences
End of January 2025 - Setting priority research lines and contributions to the BEeS 2025 LifeWatch Conference for the session on the “Ecological responses to climate change”
Read more
Fund raising
End of January 2025 - Establishing a WG Committee on scouting project application opportunities and fundraising
Read more

Team members (if)

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[INTRO HERE] Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. The kick-off Workshop, focusing on the Taxonomy Thematic Services, has been proposed and organised by LifeWatch Belgium in collaboration with all LifeWatch Common Facilities and National Distributed Centers. The workshop took place in Brussels on January 30th, concurrently with the LifeWatch Belgium Biodiversity Day. The workshop also launches the constitution of LifeWatch ERIC Working Groups on the Thematic Services, engaging participants from all LifeWatch National Distributed Centers and Common Facilities in an open discussion on the current state of the Taxonomy Services, their actual matching with the scientific community needs and requirements and the approaches and priorities of the Taxonomy Services’ Working Group for further integration and improvement of LifeWatch Taxonomy Services and user engagement. The workshop also launches the constitution of LifeWatch ERIC Working Groups on the Thematic Services, engaging participants from all LifeWatch National Distributed Centers and Common Facilities in an open discussion on the current state of the Taxonomy Services, their actual matching with the scientific community needs and requirements and the approaches and priorities of the Taxonomy Services’ Working Group for further integration and improvement of LifeWatch Taxonomy Services and user engagement.

WG Coordinator

Sara Montinaro
Chief Communication Officer
LifeWatch ERIC

Short bio

Jessica Rodriguez è docente di sociologia e sostenitrice della giustizia sociale. Con un dottorato in sociologia conseguito presso l'Università di Yale, la dott.ssa Rodriguez ha dedicato la sua carriera a promuovere la ricerca sulle disuguaglianze, le relazioni razziali e il cambiamento sociale. I suoi lavori accademici sono stati pubblicati in importanti riviste accademiche e hanno influenzato la definizione delle politiche pubbliche. La dott.ssa Rodriguez è una ricercata oratrice in occasione di conferenze e ha tenuto conferenze TEDx su temi di giustizia sociale ed equità. È profondamente impegnata a fare da mentore alla prossima generazione di studiosi e funge da consulente di facoltà per diverse organizzazioni studentesche.
Contact

Alberto Basset - Bio

Alberto Basset is full professor of Ecology at the University of Salento (Italy). His main research interests are on biodiversity organisation and maintenance, ecosystem functioning and services and their responses to natural and anthropic pressures, including climate changes. 

The research activities have produced more than 200 publications on international peer reviewed journals, being quoted in 2014 as one of the 20 top scientists for the scientific production on ecosystem ecology. He has been president of the Italian Ecological Society, of the Ecological European Federation and of LaguNet, being founding member and current president of the Euro-Mediterranean Federation of the Lagoon Research Networks (EUROMEDLAG). 

Alberto Basset is currently member of both General Assembly and Executive Board of the ‘eScience European Infrastructure on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research (LifeWatch ERIC)’ and of the Advisory Committee of the European Research Infrastructure on ‘Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory (EMSO ERIC)’ and he is the University of Salento responsible in the National Node of the European Research Infrastructure on Long Term Ecological Research (eLTER RI). 

Alberto Basset is delegate of the Ministry of University and Research in the European Partnership ‘Biodiversa+’ and he has been a member of the Italian delegation to the recent G20 meeting on challenges and opportunities for research and innovation in the Amazon and Tropical Forests.

Antonello Provenzale - Bio

Research Doctorate in Physics in 1987. Currently, research director at the Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources of CNR; director of the Institute from 2015 to 2024.

Member of the Scientific Council of the CIMA Research Foundation. National coordinator of the LifeWatch Italy JRU. Research activities on the analysis and modelling of climate change impacts on ecosystems and carbon and water cycles, geosphere-biosphere interactions, Critical Zone processes, mountain environments, planetary fluid dynamics.

Golden Badge Award of the European Geophysical Society in 1997. Invited scientist at the Ecole Normale Superieure and at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, at the Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva (Israel) and at the University of Colorado in Boulder (USA).

Organizer of summer schools and scientific workshops. Tutor of more than 20 Doctorate Theses. Coordinator of the EU H2020 project “ECOPOTENTIAL” devoted to the use of Earth Observations to improve ecosystem benefits (2015-2019) and of several national projects. Participant and node coordinator in several EU projects. Co-lead of the Action Group “Biodiversity, ecosystems and geodiversity” of EuroGEO and of the GEO Mountains Initiative.

Author of more than 180 papers in international peer-reviewed journals (ISI), h index=51 (Scopus). Author of dissemination books and articles.

Mapping user requirements

  • End of January 2025 – Catalogue of services already available in LifeWatch ERIC or research lines addressing ecological responses to climate change
  • February 2025 (TBD) – Online working table on setting priorities, timeline and milestones for the mapping service and model requirements by scientists and science stakeholders

Implementing services

  • End of January 2025 – Internal distribution of a questionnaire on the most used/relevant model resources in the WG member research activity
  • February 2025 (TBD) – Online working table on setting priorities, timeline and milestones for the mapping service and model requirements by scientists and science stakeholders

Organising WG workshops and conferences

  • End of January 2025 – Setting priority research lines and contributions to the BEeS 2025 LifeWatch Conference for the session on the “Ecological responses to climate change”
  • March/April 2025 (TBD) – Workshop ‘Ecological modelling and eco-informatics to address functional responses of biodiversity and ecosystems to climate change’ co-organized with the University of Salento
  • 30 June – 3 July 2025 – Participation to LifeWatch 2025 BEeS Conference on “Addressing the Triple Planetary Crisis”

Fund raising

  • End of January 2025 – Establishing a WG Committee on scouting project application opportunities and fundraising
Bulgaria

The Bulgarian National Distributed Centre is represented by the  Agricultural University-Plovdiv.

To know more about how Bulgaria contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Visit Bulgaria webpage
Spain

The Spanish National Distributed Centre is supported by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the Regional Government of Andalusia and the Guadalquivir River Basin Authority (Ministry for Ecological Transition-MITECO). Moreover, Spain is the hosting Member State of LifeWatch ERIC, the location of its Statutory Seat & ICT e-Infrastructure Technical Office (LifeWatch ERIC Common Facilities). 

To know more about how Spain contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Visit Spain webpage
Slovenia

The Slovenian National Distributed Centre is led by the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU). It focuses on the development of technological solutions in the field of biodiversity and socio-ecosystem research.

To know more about how Slovenia contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Visit Slovenia webpage
Portugal

The Portuguese National Distributed Centre is managed by PORBIOTA, the Portuguese e-Infrastructure for Information and Research on Biodiversity. Led by BIOPOLIS/CIBIO-InBIO – Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, PORBIOTA connects the principal Portuguese research institutions working in biodiversity.

To know more about how Portugal contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Visit Portugal webpage
Netherlands

The Dutch National Distributed Centre is hosted by the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam. Moreover, The Netherlands hosts one of the LifeWatch ERIC Common Facilities, the Virtual Laboratory and Innovation Centre.

To know more about how The Netherlands contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Visit Netherlands webpage
Italy

The Italian National Distributed Centre is led and managed by the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and is coordinated by a Joint Research Unit, currently comprising 35 members. Moreover, Italy hosts one of the LifeWatch ERIC Common Facilities, the Service Centre.

To know more about how Italy contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Visit Italy webpage
Greece

The Greek National Distributed Centre is funded by the Greek General Secretariat of Research and Technology and is coordinated by the Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, in conjunction with 47 associated partner institutions.

To know more about how Greece contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Visit Greece webpage
Belgium

The Belgian National Distributed Centre makes varied and complementary in-kind contributions to LifeWatch ERIC. These are implemented in the form of long-lasting projects by various research centres and universities distributed throughout the country and supported by each respective political authority.

To know more about how Belgium contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Visit Belgium webpage